H125 unexpected behaviour when transitioning between hover and contact with one skid

Bug Reporting Hub Aircraft & Systems
, , , ,
1

ISSUE DESCRIPTION

Description of the issue: In a crosswind situation, when at least one skid is in contact with the ground, excessive pedal is required to keep the nose straight. When the skid loses contact with the ground, suddenly less pedal is required and the nose dramatically swings to the side. I have demonstrated this in a video.

Did you experience this issue before you joined the Beta?

No.

If applicable, which aircraft is experiencing this issue:

Asobo H125

[PC Only] Did you remove all your community mods/add-ons? If yes, are you still experiencing the issue?

No

FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

How often does this occur for you (Example: Just once, every time on sim load, intermittently)?

Every time

REPRODUCTION STEPS

Please list clear steps you took in order to help our test team reproduce the same issue:

  1. Set wind to 20 knots from starboard (H125 crosswind limit)
  2. slowly raise collective, notice that excessive right pedal is required while skid is still in contact
  3. when skid leaves ground, notice that the nose swings dramatically to the right because now less pedal is required in this flight model (this coarse transition is not realistic)

YOUR SETTINGS

If the issue still occurs with no mods and add-ons, please continue to report your issue. If not, please move this post to the User Support Hub.

What peripherals are you using, if relevant:

Pedals, throttle controller, non-centering stick

[PC Only] Are you using Developer Mode or have you made any changes to it?

No

[PC Only] What GPU (Graphics Card) do you use?

[PC Only] What other relevant PC specs can you share?

MEDIA

Please add a screenshot or video of the issue occurring.

[END OF FIRST USER REPORT]

:loudspeaker: For anyone who wants to contribute on this issue, Click on the button below to use this template:

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
•

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:
•

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:
•

1 Like
2

Only a pilot that flew it IRL could tell about this. But if you study the aerodynamics of a helicopter, most of the msfs H125 behaviour is weird and unexpected.

3

Do you have the same issue if you follow the OP’s steps to reproduce it?
Yes!
Found on Asobo H125, Cowan H125, Cowan H130, Cowan B222

Provide extra information to complete the original description of the issue:

#Edited (made some false statements)
Take off from the apron with 20kts (cross)wind starts with a certain anti torque pedal setting with a corresponding yaw tendency when enough takeoff lift is partially reached (aka “being light on skids”) but as soon as the skids leave the ground a different anti-torque-“demand” results, where, until corrected with the correct pedal input, the helicopter yaws unexpectedly.

Additionally, upon touchdown, as soon as a skid touches the ground an inverse behavior is noticeable where the helicopter comes to rest while it yaws to one side.

From the nature of the behavior it seems that ground contact and HIGE (hover in ground effect) are two separate simulation states that calculate the torque and corresponding anti-torque demand differently.

#Edit#
Checking the CFD in this moment shows that there is a clear discontinuity between touching the ground and hovering. The initial state seems logical with lift and wind mixing up. But once off the ground the CFD lines drop out for a split second and after that show a different pattern.

This cannot reflect reality, because there are no A and B states to this point of operation, like A being on the ground and B hovering above the pad. It is a gradual process, where by raising the collective the ground effect cushion is beginning to built and starting to be a relevant factor. Meaning, the air cushion is also there if the helicopter still is in ground contact, yet before lift off there is too little lift.
Freezing the collective somewhere between “light-on-skids” and hover would have the helicopter just “tip toe” on the skids.

#Edit#
I checked a crosswind scenario with 20kts in both MSFS 2024 SU2 Beta, version as of 5/1/2025 and XPlane12.
While MSFS2024 behaves like described, in Xplane there is no discontinuity. The pedal setting corresponds linearly with the torque increase in the sense that there is no sudden change when lifting off the ground. Yet, in XPlane the situation is a lot more demanding to control as you can feel the wind trying to push you to the side, while the tail boom being hit by the wind also tries to yaw the aircraft into the wind and on top of that the collective also is a bit more nervous as the wind causes (as it seems to me/my best guess) effective translational lift but on the wrong side of the helicopter. It was hard to do a clean take off and very hard to do a nice touchdown while keeping the horizontal attitude. Not so in MSFS2024, besides the unexpected yaw and some side pushing, it is very controllable still.
In XP it is a good example why you would and should take off and land into the wind. Yet I am unsure if Xplane is behaving realistically itself there tbh. But -and this is the point here- there are no discontinuities in lift behavior as in MSFS.

If relevant, provide additional screenshots/video:

2 Likes
4

I just had a quick check in SU4 Beta, and it appears the H125 continues to have this problem. I wonder if @MartnMacRae can confirm?

1 Like
6

SU4beta messed up a few things for me in my initial flights. In the 500C, the command for the starter is no longer working and the landing light is stuck on…I really wish they’d stop changing the control assignments. They did this in SU3 with “previous throttle detent” which controls the idle stop release. It took me a week to figure out that they had renamed some of the bindings.

I haven’t tested too much yet. The H125 seemed okay on liftoff flying around JWA but I didn’t try any high wind settings. This may more be a result of a bug with the wind than the H125.

1 Like
7

8

Hi @PassingFad Thanks for reaching out!
I installed SU4 Beta this afternoon and did a short ride around LOWI with live weather. Sorry, I missed to note the exact conditions but that was like only 1h ago. Atm Metar says there is 9kts of wind on the pad from the east. That’d be crosswind from the left in the clip I sent.

It’s still there! But I am not surprised…

Jeremy’s idea about a bug in the wind simulation sounds interesting though.

1 Like
9

I exaggerated on the pick-up to show that it happens exactly when the skid and the ground separate…

1 Like
10

Wow, how can this kind of behavior be present in a flight simulator?

11

Wow, brilliant demonstrations. Thanks for taking the time to make those new videos! What would it take to get this upgraded to “bug-logged”?

2 Likes
12

Thanks!

Another thing: yesterday I found out that the CFD during FCR replays differs from what you see in normal live simulation. I had suspected this for a while now.

So my strategy to do a certain test, screen record the live stuff from the cockpit and keep FCR of everything in the background, then play back to the important sections and replay the events in FCR -that doesn’t seem to work. While in FCR playback I still see the same CFD sudden pattern jumps but if I manage to do the same or similar test live with CFD on, there seem to be no jumps.

I‘d like to give an example but I only managed drunken stupor flying in outside view with CFD on :rofl::rofl::rofl: not presentable. But anyhow, just so you know: my CFD analyses in my YT video are BS it seems. But the behavior, what actually happens to the helicopter when you do normal flying, thats all like we discussed.

13

About the bug log: This is in the SU3 Beta section, right? Question to the admins would also be: Is it really necessary to do the same post again in SU4 Beta section?

15

Not sure why this needed to be flagged, just saying that since this was already the case in SU3 (and likely before) it is not a regression so no point raising it in SU4 beta section of the forum.

16

Is it just me or did the H125 became more sensitive to the antitorque pedals? I feel like collective changes now require much higher pedal inputs to compensate than before. I have not seen this with Taog’s and Cowansim helis in SU4.

17

I didn’t feel any change recently except the bug mentionned in the topic wich requires a LOT of pedal to counter when it occurs, hope it will be fixed soon, or bug reported at least

18

Should be fixed in SU4:
Continuing the discussion from Sim Update 4 Beta (1.6.31.0) Release Notes - November 28, 2025:

Related SU4 report: H125 issues with torque simulation / dramatic yaw on touchdown / rotor inertia

19

Sadly, no. Now, in SU4, it seems to be in multiple helicopters. I just tested the H125, the Cabri G2, and the new 2024 Huey. When one skid touches the ground, the helicopter yaws unexpectedly. I think this is a really unfortunate outcome.

1 Like
20

Seemingly, when lifting off, the H125 in SU4 incorrectly needs LEFT pedal to prevent yawing to the right. When both skids have left the ground, the helicopter then yaws sharply to the left which necessitates correction with RIGHT pedal.

21

Yep I confirm still the same issue persists, it can be anticipated but It’s annoying

The only fixed issue is the rpm increase when touch down

22

How can I get this Input Viewer Window? :thinking: Thanks!